


Quit Meeting Like This

by symphie5493



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Gen, Hurt Kelly Severide, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Procedures, Medical Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:54:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29519772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphie5493/pseuds/symphie5493
Summary: Short one-shot of Kelly Severide not coming away from the chimney collapse in 7x08 without injury
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Quit Meeting Like This

“Severide!” he heard Cruz yell. 

His ears were ringing and he couldn’t see anything through the smoke and dust from the chimney collapsing on top of him. He took short breaths, the pressure from the debris on top of him making it impossible to move. His left arm and shoulder were free, but everything else was pinned. His mask was cracked, rendering it useless. The heat and smoke burned his lungs as he looked around for an escape.

Casey rounded the corner and froze, his eyes wide as he surveyed the situation.

“Captain, we’ve got to get this off of him!” Cruz yelled, already doing his best to move the pile of debris.

Matt immediately bent down and wedged his halligan under the column, creating leverage.

“I just need...a few inches…” Severide coughed.

Cruz and Casey pushed their weight into the lever, the debris crumbling as they managed to lift the column slightly.

Severide used his free arm to push against the chimney and his pinned right arm to scoot himself backward.

Matt and Joe yelled, warning Severide to free himself quickly and Kelly threw himself over, rolling out from under the bricks right before they let it fall back to the ground.

“Let’s get out of here! It’s going to flash over!” Cruz yelled, coughing into the smoke.

Casey grabbed Severide under the arm and dragged him up, groaning under the weight as he pushed them both forward.

“No! Casey! I can’t move my leg!” Kelly choked out, immediately starting to cough as he inhaled more smoke.

“Cruz! Get his other side!” Casey yelled.

Cruz tossed Kelly’s other arm over his shoulders and tore his own mask from his face, pressing it to the Lieutenant's face with one hand while he looped his other arm around Kelly’s back, helping Casey support the weight. The house continued to creak beneath them, growing more unstable with every passing second. 

Kelly hung his head, panting to take in clean air from the mask that his team held to his face, the growing pain from his ribs making it difficult to take a full breath. He did his best to put his weight into his right leg and take some weight off his brothers, his left leg useless beneath him.

Kelly pushed the mask from his face back to Cruz and nodded, encouraging him to put it back on. If they were going to have to drag him out, Kelly at least wanted Joe to be able to breathe.

Casey and Cruz crouched down to avoid the thickest smoke, leading Kelly carefully toward the stairs. They paused at the top and Kelly looked between Matt and Joe. They nodded without exchanging words and synchronously reached down, each looping a hand under one of Kelly’s knees, lifting him from the ground.

Kelly cried out as the pain that shot through his left leg took over every other thought. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the turnout coats of the other two. They released his knees when they reached the bottom of the stairs and Kelly cried out again, coughing through gritted teeth, concentrating on putting some of his weight back into his right foot, determined to help his friends get him out of the house.

As they reached the threshold, the upstairs flashed over, the sudden release of heat and pressure from behind sending them across the small porch onto the grass in front of the house.

The ground rumbled beneath them as the team ran to them, various people shouting their names. Kelly coughed into the grass and pushed a hand into the dirt, rolling himself over, his eyes darting around to check on Cruz and Casey. He kept his arm wrapped around his middle, bracing his aching ribs as he cough, relishing the fresh air.

“Hey, no, don’t move, are you okay?!” he heard someone say, sweat mixing with soot and blurring his vision.

He brought a hand to his face and wiped his eyes, chaos surrounding him as his team helped Cruz and Casey to their feet. Brett and Foster kneeled on either side of him and he motioned to his chest, continuing to cough as the team pulled off his jacket.

“I know. Try to breathe, Lieutenant…” Emily said, the bell of her stethoscope snaking under his jacket.

“He took in a lot of smoke,” Cruz reported.

“He was pinned under pretty good. He couldn’t walk on that left leg,” Casey added.

“Get his turnout gear off,” Brett directed as she pressed an oxygen mask to his face.

Someone tugged off his left boot and Kelly yelled, instinctively twisting his body away from the pain. Foster pressed a hand to Kelly’s chest to keep him down and Kelly groaned at the pressure on his ribs.

“My leg,” he coughed, his face pale.

“Okay, okay, just breathe,” Sylvie told him.

Foster moved down toward his leg and Stella immediately took her place at his side, grabbing Kelly’s hand and locking eyes with him.

“I’m good,” he said, his voice hoarse.

She nodded and squeezed his hand, tears welling in her eyes.

He felt someone tug off his turnout pants and start cutting through his uniform. He planted his free arm beneath him, lifting himself up on his elbow to survey the damage. His left leg was turned in, almost looking shorter than his left.

“Can you move it, Severide?” Brett asked, grasping his ankle.

He shook his head and winced as he tried, coughing again into the oxygen mask and laying back, staring at the sky.

Sylvie leaned toward his face, her voice calm. “You’re okay. I think your hip is dislocated. We’ve gotta get you to Med.”

He nodded, avoiding eye contact and setting his jaw.

“You heard her. Get him up,” Boden said from where he stood behind the crowd, watching intently.

A backboard appeared beside him and he put his elbows behind him, scooting his upper body over and digging his right heel into the ground to drag his lower body. 

“We’ve got you,” Casey said, motioning to Cruz to help him shift Severide’s left leg onto the board. Kelly squeezed his eyes shut and took short breaths through gritted teeth as the pain shot through him, clenching his fists at his sides.

“One, two, three,” he heard Sylvie say before feeling everyone lift the board onto the stretcher.

A hand squeezed his upper arm and he opened his eyes to see Stella standing beside him, obviously not willing to leave his side. He nodded at her, his best attempt at being reassuring.

“We’ll meet you at Med,” Boden said as the team lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambo, Stella and Sylvie climbing in the back with him.

\---

Kelly stared at the ceiling as they rolled through the sliding doors of the ED, one hand holding the oxygen mask to his face and one arm draped protectively across his ribs.

“Lieutenant,” Dr. Choi greeted, falling into step beside the stretcher as they pivoted and rolled into a trauma room. “Talk to me.”

“I’m good,” Severide said through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse. “Just my leg.”

Ethan nodded, pressing his stethoscope to Kelly’s bare chest, the purple bruises already blooming across his chest.

“Any trouble breathing?” he asked.

“Took in some smoke,” he said, coughing again. He winced and instinctively brought his hand to his side. 

From the other side of the bed, April gently took his hand away and felt his ribs, moving her fingers slowly down his chest. He groaned as she pressed a particularly painful spot and she took her hand away, smiling apologetically.

“Let’s get a chest x-ray of those ribs and draw a gas,” Ethan said to April before moving on to assess Kelly’s leg. “We’ll probably have to take you up to surgery to reset this hip dislocation.”

Ethan put both hands on Kelly’s knee and moved them slowly up to his hip, feeling for deformities. The sharp bolt of pain made Kelly jump and he gripped the sides of the bed to fight his instinct to twist away. He swallowed hard, the pain sending a wave of nausea over him, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“He got 50 of Fentanyl in route,” April reported.

Ethan nodded. “Give him another 50 and check the pulse in that foot.”

April immediately injected medication into his IV and briefly laid her hand on the side of his face. “It’ll kick in soon,” she promised quietly.

Kelly felt the pain medication flood his system, grateful for the relief after what he’d been given in the ambulance had already worn off. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling April carefully examine his foot.

“Dr. Choi,” April said, her voice suddenly urgent. “No pulse on Doppler.”

The room suddenly went quiet and Severide opened his eyes to see April and Ethan staring at each other in understanding, leaving everyone else in the dark.

“What does that mean?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Ethan nodded once at April, who instantly went to grab supplies, before turning back to Kelly.

“Your foot’s not getting blood flow. We’ve got to get your hip back in, and we’ve got to do it fast,” he said, urgent and serious.

April quickly injected something else into his IV and put her hand on his shoulder. He searched her eyes for answers, only finding a look of concern, and looked back to Ethan.

“We’re going to give you everything we can, but it’s going to hurt like hell,” Ethan said honestly.

“If we don’t do this now, you could lose your foot,” April explained quietly, squeezing his arm before waving to another nurse who started escorting the rest of his team out of the room. Severide felt his heart rate start to climb.

He set his jaw and nodded. “Do it.”

The medication April had given him made his vision swim and he swallowed hard, trying his best to keep his focus as his heart hammered in his chest.

“Okay, Severide, just relax. Let me do the work,” Ethan said, positioning himself on Kelly’s left side. 

Kelly nodded and felt Dr. Choi reach his right hand under his left knee and wrap it back loosely around his leg, laying his hand on the left side of Kelly’s pelvis. April put both hands on his right side, his hip and his shoulder, clearly bracing herself to keep Severide pinned down.

Ethan bent down and used his free left hand to pull Kelly’s left knee up onto his own right shoulder, Kelly’s foot dangling in the air behind Ethan’s body. The shift caused Kelly’s whole body to tense and he held his breath, gripping the sides of the bed and gritting his teeth.

“Okay, Lieutenant. I need you to take some deep breaths and try to relax. I can’t do this if you’re tense…” Dr. Choi said seriously.

Kelly set his gaze on the ceiling and took a deep breath, thankful that either the pain in his leg or the medications were dulling the ache in his ribs so that he could breathe. He intentionally stretched his fingers out and re-gripped the rails of the bed, then settled his shoulders back into the bed. 

“One more…” April said quietly.

Severide did as he was instructed, taking one more deep breath and making a conscious effort to relax his body.

“On three,” Ethan said. 

Kelly looked at April, then Ethan, and nodded.

Ethan started to count. “One, two…”

In that instant, Ethan simply nodded once at April. Kelly felt her press his pelvis into the bed and he grit his teeth as Ethan quickly stood, Kelly’s knee still draped over his shoulder. Dr. Choi pulled up and twisted his leg outward with a force that threatened to yank Severide off the bed. 

The pain blinded him, his vision darkening and his own primal yell seeming foreign to him. He squeezed his eyes shut and instinctively straightened his arms, pushing back on the rails of the bed, his whole body tense. Seconds later, the pain climaxed and he heard a sickening click as his leg slid back into his hip. He panted, the sharp, blinding pain turning into an intense, throbbing ache through his leg. He brought his hands to his face and quickly wiped the tears stinging his eyes, catching his breath.

Dr. Choi released his leg and slowly laid it back on the bed, putting both hands on Kelly’s hip and gently feeling around the joint, while April moved to assess his foot again.

“I’ve got a pulse,” she said, smiling.

Ethan put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder and nodded.

“That’s it. You did good, man,” he said. “Just breathe.”

Kelly nodded and wrapped one arm back around his mid-section, bracing his ribs as the pain medication started to wear off again.

“You’ll definitely be here overnight for the smoke inhalation, and we’ll get ortho down here to look at that hip,” Dr Choi said. “April, another dose, please.”

April injected another dose of pain medication into Kelly’s IV, lingering this time to hold his hand.

“We’ve got to quit meeting like this,” she said, smiling.

He managed a half-smile and closed his eyes, throwing his other arm over his face as the relief from the pain washed over him.


End file.
